Runners Cope Well With Heat

A year ago, the Chicago Marathon was blasted by a Perfect Storm of bad marathon conditions—high heat and humidity at a time when many runners were just acclimatizing to the brisk fall conditions. The result was the most chaotic big-marathon meltdown ever: a "closing" of the course; record admissions to the medical tent and area hospitals; a heart-attack death; and numerous complaints that the marathon hadn't lived up to its responsibility to provide for the entrants.

While other marathon directors mostly came to Chicago's support, pointing out that they too would have had trouble dealing with the extreme heat and humidity, it fell on Chicago's shoulders to bear the burden. Race director Carey Pinkowski and his associates increased water stops and weather alerts and many other things in the wake of the 2007 Marathon, but also figured they'd likely get a break from the weather in 2008. They did. But not much of one, as sunny, warm conditions again greeted the 35,000 starters.

Still, the humidity was much lower, a key factor, and nearly a dozen interviews with marathoners who finished anywhere from 2:06 to 4:30 indicated that this year's runners had few problems on the course. When Stig Soerensen, 39, left his home in Greenland for the long trip to Chicago, there was already snow on the ground. But he wasn't troubled by the warm weather in Chicago, and finished in 2:54:55. "This is a very good marathon," he said of his first Chicago. "The course is very fast, and I found everything just perfect. The temperature didn't bother me. You just have to drink a little more."

With more than two dozen marathons behind him. Creighton Faust, 35, of Bethlehem, PA, knows the ins and outs of successful marathoning. He came to Chicago, for the first time, hoping to run "under 3 hours and enjoy myself." He achieved half his goal: He finished in 2:59:45. "I can't say it was as much fun as I hoped," he said. "The weather wasn't ideal, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. There were plenty of fluids at all the aid stops, and they had five or six misting stations and plenty of sponges. We needed it today."

Jillian Mastroianni, 26, of New York City, had hoped to run 2:55 at Chicago on a perfect day. She realized that she would need to adjust her expectation for the conditions, and came up with a plan that worked perfectly. She finished in 2:58:33 and commented, "The weather was much better than last year. Last year I was hurting from 6 miles on. That made me decide I should run smarter this year. I was strong all the way through. I ran even splits. The water tables and everything else on the course seemed fine."
By late morning, race officials raised their official weather alert system to "Red" conditions. This meant that the conditions were getting more severe, and runners were advised to adjust their paces and go slower. When the marathon began at 8 a.m., the temperature was 63 degrees. By 10 a.m., it had increased to a warm, sunny 78 degrees, though without the high humidity that made last year's event such a slog. The elite runners seemed to have little trouble with the warmth. "It was no problem at all," said women's winner Lidiya Grigoryeva. "We were in shadows much of the way."

First American female finisher Desiree Davila had hoped to run close to 2:30 with perfect conditions. When the weather proved less than ideal, she and her coaches adjusted their goal to a 2:32. She went through the half marathon in 1:16:30, and then ran a minute faster for the second half to finish in 2:31:33, a 6-minute PR.

Race director Carey Pinkowski, often focused on the elite race, spent the morning at the "Incident Command" desk, reviewing all race operations in real time. As a result, he said he'd have to wait until mid-afternoon to watch the race on video. "Things seem to be going very well, especially with not ideal weather," he said at noon. "All the plans we put into place after last year are working. At the 3-mile water stop, we're only using about 65 percent of our capacity. We have fewer people in the medical tent. At 11:30, the temperature was 84 degrees and the relative humidity 39 percent, so we moved our Event Alert system to 'Red' and alerted all the participants to be careful."

By 2 p.m., many of those runners were limping into race headquarters at the Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue. They were tired, bedraggled, and sunburned, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Marilyn Woodruff of Effingham, IL, finished in a little over 4 hours. "It was fine out there," she said. "Maybe there was a little too much sun, but it wasn't bad, and there was plenty of water."

First-time marathoner Arie Griffioen finished a half-hour behind Woodruff. A citizen of the Netherlands, Griffioen isn't accustomed to running in warm conditions. Nonetheless, he said he had no trouble with the weather. "It was almost perfect during the first half," he said. "The second half, sure, it got a little warmer. But the race was very well organized with very good aid tables. They helped us reach the finish. I give them my compliments."

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